STRASBOURG (BIA)– The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) handed Turkey a fine of 400,000 dollars in damages so far this year in legal cases about freedom of expression and fair trial. The court fined Turkey 166,000 dollars in similar cases last year.
The ECHR ruled that Turkey should pay 20,500 dollars in damages to Socialist Part (SP) leader Dogu Perincek; a total of 36,100 dollars to Gunluk Emek newspaper’s chief editor Ahmet Ergin and owner Halit Keskin–and 116,200 dollars to Ilkay Adali–the wife of journalist Kutlu Adali who was killed in northern Cyprus–among other people.
Since 2004–Turkey has been fined 557,554 dollars in damages for violating article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights–which oversees freedom of expression–article 6/1–which calls for a fair trial–and article 2–which concerns not "investigating enough" journalist deaths.
